Brilliance of Alexandrite gemstone

Since ages, people have been wearing stone studded ornaments like rings, necklaces, wrist bands or pendants etc. for various purposes. Generally, people wear stone on the advice of their astrologists, as per their birth sign or for aesthetic purposes.

As such there are numerous good looking and valuable gems that people wear such as Pearl, Diamond, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Alexandrite and Opal besides many others.

Although every precious or non-precious gem has its own importance, value and a place in ornamental jewelry yet when it comes to rare gems, Alexandrite occupies a special place.

The rare gem Alexandrite is a color changing variety chrysoberyl and is rated very high among rarest gemstones in the world.

How Alexandrite changes its color?

Often, due to its ability to change color, Alexandrite gemstone is described as an emerald by day and a ruby by night.

During day time, under sunlight, Alexandrite turns bluish green and when placed under luminescent light, it appears as purplish-blue stone.

This phenomenon is known as pleochroism which is an optical phenomenon in which substances like gems or crystals, produce different colors when observed at different angles, under lights with different polarization

By virtue of this property of pleochroism when Alexandrite is exposed to these different types of light, it absorbs certain wavelengths while reflecting certain other wavelengths.

Alexandrite usually reflects green colored wavelengths of color and hence when seen under natural daylight it appears green in color like an emerald.

But when you move Alexandrite gemstone inside under a fluorescent lamp, it reflects plenty of red light instead of green and hence appears as a gemstone in red color.

Pleochroism- color changing property occurs in Alexandrite due to presence of aluminum, beryllium, chromium, iron and titanium in its chemical composition.

Factors responsible for value and quality of Alexandrite

The quality of Alexandrite gemstone is one of the major considerations while buying the alexandrite jewelry.

The value of Alexandrite necklace, pendant or earring besides others largely depends on:

Color – good quality Alexandrite should appear green to bluish green in daylight while in incandescent light, it should be red to purplish red. A fine quality Alexandrite should neither too light nor too dark.

Alexandrite earrings made from Alexandrite gemstone with moderately strong color saturation can produce a fabulous and attractive look.

Clarity- A clean Alexandrite gem stone with certain oriented parallel inclusions like long and thin inclusions or inclusions that produce cat’s eye effect can increase value of Alexandrite gemstone.

• Cutting- Mixed cuts are most common in Alexandrite gemstone that are characterized as
• Brilliant-cut crowns i.e. triangular and kite shaped cuts
• Step-cut pavilions that have concentric rows of parallel facets

Cuts in Alexandrite gemstone is important to produce pleochroic i.e. color changing effects to add beauty and grace to an Alexandrite pendant.

Weight – Alexandrite like gold and diamond is measured in carats. Usually for fashion jewelry like Alexandriteearrings or Alexandrite necklaces small size gemstone, may be around one carat is used to have a reasonable price. However, price of Alexandrite pendant increases substantially with larger size of gemstone.

When you wish to own awesome a pair of Alexandrite earrings or have professionally designed Alexandrite necklaces, you may rely on quality and craftsmanship as well as collection of The Rare Gem Collection - a trustworthy name in the field of rare gems.